Love Island has once again took the UK public by storm this summer, dominating everyone’s news feeds and Twitter trends. Although little Gee has divided the nation on whether she actually is the loyal person she preaches about. By walking away from the £50,000 prize in order to be with Sam, she showed many people that sometimes, just sometimes, you are what you preach. She may not be walking away with her pockets deeper, but she got the prize she wanted.

What does Love Island have to do with Ecommerce? Well, there is a lot we can learn from little Gee and the new catch phrase from the summer, when it comes to thinking about retaining customers. While your website needs to be visually pleasing it also has to be seamless in its functionality, so it has the ability to reach new audiences whilst retaining previous customers. Shopify has introduced new features this summer so you can be more dynamic and get personal on your website. Allowing Shopify Experts to enhance your Ecommerce store and implementing functionalities such as dynamic personal product recommendations can massively improve your repeat customer rate. Loyalty should always get rewarded and businesses need to ensure it is part of their ongoing and long-term Ecommerce strategy.

Why rewarding loyalty is so important.

Statistics have shown that it is far more cost effective to keep current customers than it is to acquire new ones. Having a steady flow of new customers purchasing is, of course, essential, as it allows you to consistently grow. It is equally important, however, to ensure that you don’t have a high number of one time buyers. Customers that repeatedly buy from you gives you an opportunity for free promotion and marketing. Repeat buyers will often praise you through word of mouth and by leaving reviews which you can showcase on your site and across your social platforms. Don’t put all of your time and effort into grafting when you’ve already found your rainbow fish.

Have you ever bought a product and a week later, you see it’s on sale for half the price? Or when a company you have been following since 2008 runs a competition and a person who has only just started to follow them wins the £250 beauty bundle?

While it can’t be denied that we all love a bargain, many of us have at least one brand that we continually buy from, regardless of price. For instance, many companies have created their own cheaper version of Vaseline, however, many of us will still only buy the original because we believe in the quality of it and therefore are prepared to pay the extra. It’s a two-way relationship, we need them and let’s be honest, they need us. So, why shouldn’t brands treat us for being loyal?

Don’t get muggled.

There are always going to be brands that sell similar products to you and will have no problem with stepping on your toes to get to your customer base. While not every customer can be saved, it’s important to make sure that when it comes to being dumped, you have done everything you can to save yourself.

So, how do you do it?

Birthday Gifts

Remember their birthday and always turn up to the party with a gift. This is a standard for most companies, so make sure it is your standard. All birthday messages from your brand should be personalised to that customer – no one wants to feel like their just another person on a list.

Give them a gift, it’s their day! This could be in the form of a discount code or a freebie of their choice, either way, it’s a nice personal touch and who doesn’t want an extra present?

Who is actually loyal?

Segment your consumers. Multiple email platforms allow you to separate your email subscribers based on various conditions, this needs to be your first port of call. Many businesses will focus on waking up their inactive subscribers and while this should be an important part of your strategy, many companies forget their VIP subscribers.

You need to treat customers who have bought multiple times from your store. It’s a nice gesture and where possible personalise the discount or tailor product recommendations to what they would be interested in. This small gesture helps build a rapport and trust between you and the customer, making them feel more important than just an order number.

Create a points system loyalty scheme for your consumers.

Implementing a points system is very effective and encourages consumers to keep coming back, especially as they know they are also benefiting from it. Loyalty schemes create a sense of belonging, your own community and those who join up should be treated like this, whether it’s building up points to take the weight off of christmas, or sending out exclusive sneak peeks. The maintenance of retaining this relationship will include sacrifice on your side, however the long term benefits really do weight out the cons and you will have lifetime customers, who will praise you through word of mouth to their friendship circles.

When you have a brick and mortar store, it is easy to spot those who are repeat customers and get to know them. The online world is a lot harder to make those relationships and build up a rapport.

It is important that you graft for new customers that come to your website, but it is equally important to maintain the older and more loyal bonds you have in place.

We know, we know it’s been a couple of weeks and we haven’t given you a run through of our highly anticipated launch night for GirlCode. We apologise, actually no we don’t because Rosie, our Digital Marketing Manager in her infamous talk told us all we need to ‘Stop Saying Sorry’. If you weren’t there, then you wouldn’t get the joke, sorry (not sorry).

Rosie thought of GirlCode (then named simply, women in digital) back in the latter half of 2017. We had no branding, we had no idea of who we wanted to speak, what the topic was going to be we just knew we had to do it. Before Christmas, we tried to get the ball rolling, but being in an agency right before Christmas trying to create a revolutionary event probably wasn’t the best idea of ours.

We came back for 2018 with a new spring in our step, and more of hunger for getting the event launched. First of all we needed a launch day and what better day than International Women’s Day, a day that is for all women no matter where you are, who you are, what you do, how old you are – International Women’s Day is a day for you! By deciding the day we had also given ourselves a deadline and countless late nights at the office, pleading with people to give us freebies, securing a venue and most of all finding speakers that were both diverse and inspirational (and part of me just wanted to find speakers that I personally loved).

The lovely people at 1000 Trades offered us the room and the first time we went to visit the room we were discussing how we could use the various table sizes and chairs to fill the room, whilst making a strategic list of who out of our friends and family would actually come. A couple of weeks later we went to set the room up and found ourselves taking out furniture to make sure everyone could fit in. Our tickets on eventbrite sold out within a couple of weeks and we suddenly went from talking in front of our mums and pals (that were there for the beverage you promised you’d pay for) to talking in front of established women and men in various industries.

The few days before the event are pretty much a blur, it took a lot of preparation, we wanted to go big, everything down to the napkins, choice of goodies and quotes to place around the venue were discussed at length, it had to be perfection and for us, we think it was pretty close.

The Event

We got to the room early to set everything up and although we tried every single option, the projector didn’t work on the screen which ended up wasting important getting ready time, so for anyone who was sitting from the middle to back (we apologise (legitimately) about the poor site line). The snacks were set up on the table to look as Instagrammable as possible, along with the balloons and posters. We got ready in a record time of 15 minutes and after that, the girl power playlist was pumping and the drinks were flowing, giving a chance for everyone to arrive and network with one another before we got down to the real event, the speakers.

Our very own Managing Director, Chris opened the event with a very honest introduction outlining exactly why we wanted GirlCode to take place and why it was important to have events like this and he continued to host the evening, introducing our speakers and the Q&As.

Megan, our Digital Account Executive and Co-Founder of GirlCode set the scene for the night, by sharing a personal perspective of why she believed in GirlCode and why it was important to her as well as highlighting movements and statistics which showed that there was still work to be done when it came to equality in the workplace.

Rosie, our Digital Marketing Manager talked about how we should Stop Saying Sorry. She stated that there have been many occasions where she has felt under pressure to apologise for not being technical but in reality, as with many people you don’t actually realise your skills and abilities until you break them down one by one. Rosie also discussed the relationship between the developer and the marketer and how there is often an attempt to outsmart one another when really these relationships should be built on teaching one another in order to make the client delivery better.

Bethan, or BethanInBrum quickly became one of our favourite Birmingham Bloggers with her realistic and honest representation of what it’s like to be a blogger with a full-time job and how you should remain true to who you are, no matter if this results in fewer followers. She spoke about how her blog changed from being revolved around her life in Liverpool (as a student) where she would blog about her love life to her followers and when she realised that actually, she wanted to write more of a lifestyle blog she did it but not necessarily everyone in the mainstream blog scene will do this. She reminded us of the importance of being who we are and doing what we love.

Tara, the managing director of East Village told us why we shouldn’t surrender to the personality police. Being in digital there are stereotypes that are associated with certain job roles, for instance, working in PR you would expect them to be bubbly, outgoing and basically never be at their desks. A website developer is very much associated with being quiet and a ‘nerd’ that talks about nothing else but PHP and app development. This is often not the case though, everyone is different, everyone has a different personality and Tara reminded us of how our personality’s shouldn’t stop us from going for job roles and entering industries that we want to.

Now I could talk all day about exactly what we did, the stress, the reward, the talks but I’ll stop now.

But quickly, one more point. We are hosting another GirlCode event in May (dates to be released soon) which will surround Mental Health and Wellbeing. We welcome any suggestions just let us know if you want to get involved!

Email us at: hello@wearegirlcode.com or megan@apex-ecommerce.co.uk

Interested in how we can help you make the most of your online store? Digital Cake are Shopify experts, as an agency, we know what will help you be better online.

When it comes to growing your eCommerce business, it can be hard to come up with a plan. What’s your objective? What are your action plans, and will it truly help you achieve your initial objectives? These are not new problems, and these concerns are pretty common among online eCommerce businesses.

The good news is there are simple business and marketing methodologies that can help you create a solid marketing plan. And one of our favourites is the traditional SWOT analysis. In this article, we’ll talk about how a simple SWOT analysis can help you determine how best you can achieve eCommerce success.

But first, let’s answer a simple question….

What Is a SWOT Analysis?

For starters, a SWOT analysis contains four quadrants: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats.

Below we’ll discuss what each category in-depth and provide you with a series of guide questions to help you create your own SWOT for your business.

Strengths – describe what your business is good at. What are you good at? What’s your advantage against your competitors? What resources do you possess?

Weaknesses – describe the areas of your business that need improvement. What does your business lack? What are the products that don’t sell? Do you lack certain resources? Do you have the requisite marketing and SEO skills in-house? Where are your competitors stronger than you? What do your competitors do better than you?

Opportunities – are a set of circumstances that can enable you to grow your business. What are the opportunities in your industry? Are there any marketing trends you can leverage?

Threats – are factors that can pose a risk to your business. Do you have new competitors aggressively gathering market share? Are there factors that are decreasing your revenues or potential profits? Is the gap between you and your competitors growing?

Strengths and weaknesses are internal factors that may impact your organization, whereas opportunities and threats are international factors that may impact the landscape the company operates in.

So what?

To help you recognize how vital a SWOT analysis is to your eCommerce business: let us consider the following fictional business: Mandy’s Graphic Tees.

Mandy just started selling graphic tees on her online website, and the problem is she does not have a lot of customers. Her website is optimised, her products are organised and she has an online presence. However, since she just started out, she has a few problems.

Mandy’s business lacks a social media following and her online content is only picking up a few engagements. She does not rank on the first page and she doesn’t get much traffic via search engines. She has also identified commercial keywords but currently ranks around the bottom of page 5 for these terms.

Mandy has a lot of competitors online, yet there are opportunities in the local market in her area. In her area, she has 2 competitors that have been going for nearly 2 years, yet they lack an engaging online presence. She’s hiring a content creator, social media specialist and SEO experts to get her business off-the-ground.

Given this data, Mandy’s SWOT could look like this:

Through a simple SWOT analysis, Mandy is able to clearly identify what she needs to do in order to achieve eCommerce success.

How does your SWOT analysis look like? Let us know how we can help.

Interested in how we can help you make the most of your online store? Digital Cake are Shopify experts, as an agency, we know what will help you be better online.

AI-powered technologies are expected to replace tasks reserved for human sales professionals and merchandisers. It won’t replace humans 100%, but it will speed up transactions and improve the experiences of online shoppers.

So, should you jump into the trend and leverage AI technology? In this article, we’ll discuss the three reasons why you need to take the leap.

AI Enables Personalised Product Recommendations

For the past year, I bet you’ve seen ecommerce websites where the product recommendations you receive, are based on the products that you’ve previously bought or searched. Make no mistake: These convenient recommendations are made possible through the help of AI.

With machine learning algorithms, AI has helped ecommerce websites deliver data-backed search results that are in-line with a customer’s past and present behaviour.

AI Enables Fast and Efficient Consumer Experiences

Many brands have used chatbots through messaging apps, like Messenger. These chatbots function as sales agents, who entertain consumer questions and provide product recommendations.

For instance, eBay has created a virtual personal shopping assistant called Shopbot. All consumers need to do is let the bot know what they’re shopping for, it will then ask relevant questions to narrow-down the search.

Clothing brand Aerie by American Eagle Outfitters has also developed chatbots for the Kik messaging app. Similar to eBay, Aerie’s chatbot asks what you’re looking for, followed by a series of questions to help narrow down the search. What sets it apart; however, is its ability to communicate with millennials via a millennial “voice.” It also has a “this” or “that” option to help you pick the one you love the most.

These examples show how conversations with AI are rapidly changing our shopping experience. In fact, Gartner predicts that by 2018, 30% of our interactions with technology will be through “conversations” with smart machines.

AI Can Conduct Predictive Analytics

Another amazing thing about AI is its ability to conduct predictive analytics. With AI, marketers will be able to predict the number of digital interactions that must be sent before a specific customer makes a purchase. It can then create segment these customers and group them, according to the customer journey that will entice them to make a purchase.

Predictive analytics can also determine the products which need to be discounted, and which ones will be sold out with or without sales or promos.

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In summary, its certain that AI will change the ecommerce landscape in the upcoming year. They will make customer experiences faster and more efficient. But the question is: Is your business ready for AI in 2018?

Need to get your business ready for Artificial Intelligence? Check out our SEO services to make sure you are.

All these shoppers need to do is visit the company’s website via the link provided in the cashback website. Afterwards, whenever they buy an item, they receive money once the transaction is processed. The amount they get can range from a few pennies to more than £100!

It’s also pretty damn fast to sign up in any cashback website.

Once users create a profile, they can login and search for deals on the retailers they want to buy from, like AliExpress, BT Broadband and Expedia.

That’s right—users can get great deals on flights, hotel bookings, broadband offers, shoes and a lot more!

Here’s a sample of the latest offerings from a cashback website:

These offers are irresistible, and it’s obvious why everyone loves them. Think about the amount of money that consumers can save by shopping in a cashback website.

A study by Statista found that among respondents with an annual income below 50,000 British pounds, 63 percent said that they would purchase a product based on its high-value cash back rebate. The same results were found among those belonging in the 50,000 to 99,999 income bracket.

For retailers, this means that they’re missing out on a huge opportunity, if they’re not in any cashback website.

Which Products Work Best In Cashback Websites?

Cashback websites work best with products in the switchers market, such as insurance and broadband. With a great deal, you can easily entice customers to switch to your brand.

Online store owners who offer products that are sold by other merchants can also get the market share of their competitors via cashback websites. Users can easily search for a product and compare it with competitors, by filtering the results based on name, highest %, highest £, popularity and newest added.

If you offer the best deal or have the highest £ rate, you can rank first in the filtered results of the cashback websites. Meaning that with a good offer you can drive a lot of traffic to your online store.

This is how cashback websites earn and why they pay out money. Since they have the ability to direct traffic, they earn money based on the number of clicks, transactions or accepted applicants—that were a direct result of the offer posted on the site. Cashback websites then distribute some of the money they were paid to shoppers who avail of the deal.

Just starting out? Get into a cashback website ASAP.

Cashback websites are one of the hottest business models in ecommerce marketing.

Consumers find it easy to sign up and find the best deals, while, retailers can beat their competition —based on the deals they offer.

The Best Ecommerce Platform

You’ve decided you want to either migrate to or start up on an ecommerce platform, but with so many options out there, it’s hard to know which one to select.

Of course, you have to look at your businesses position, analyse the strengths and weaknesses as well as envisioning where you want your business to be in the future. While many will answer this questions of future position with a simple one: to make more money, but this analysis requires a deeper anaylsis, for example if your selling footwear, you need to answer: what footwear do you want to sell, what demographic do you want to sell too and how is your branding and website going to get you there?

You may have the coolest physical store, that breathes individuality, alternativity and independence, so people actually enjoy being in there, but does your website reflect this personality? A lot of the time, it doesn’t.

Back to ecommerce platforms, there are the two big players in the game and that’s Shopify and Magento. Up until recently, Magento dominated the ecommerce platform field, but Shopify is rapidly catching up with them. You want an ecommerce platform that is going to be able to grow with you and have the ability to evolve, so you don’t get left behind. Both platforms do this but in different ways.

Hosting

Shopify: To be on the Shopify platform there is a monthly charge, this charge is dependent on what package you choose, so as your business evolves so does your platform. This charge incorporates various charges such as security, support, payment gateway (if you choose to use Shopify’s payment gateway Stripe) as well as your hosting. There is on hand support 24/7 so if you have any issues with your site then there are experts within the Shopify community to help you around the clock. By having this all taken care of, it gives you the ability to focus on what’s really important – converting customerrs through a sleek user journey and making your website work the way you need it too.

Magento: Magento is a free open source platform, but like with a lot of things in life, free doesn’t necessarily mean free. While it’s free to set up you still have to set up hosting somewhere else, many will argue that this is the best option as you have free control over where your site is hosted. Along with an added hosting charge, you will also have to put in place security measures and all of this ends up adding up. Furthermore, there is no official support offered by magento instead there is an established community of magento developers who offer insightful and detailed support to those having issues with the platform. While this information may be correct, the solution is not necessarily instantaneous which presents problems to Magento sites.

Design

Both platforms offer themes and apps to add functionality and elements of customisability to your store, however, Magento is often seen as the one out of the two that has more capability to make your store unique. This is due to the fact that Magento is highly technical, meaning even if you had a basic knowledge of how things work in the back end of a site you would probably still be at a loss as to how customise your site. This brings up problems if you wanted to change something on your site as you would have to hire an experienced Magento developer, adding an unnecessary cost to yourself. Shopify has a massive range of themes, premium and free to customise yourself, while many suggest that all Shopify sites look the same this isn’t actually the case at all. With the help of an agency who are Shopify experts, your site will stand out from the crowd from other more basic themed Shopify stores. However, some functionalities will be the same across all sites such as the ease of the checkout process itself as a simple checkout will more likely lead to a better conversion funnel and therefore rate.

Statistics

Both Magento and Shopify have a dashboard in the admin panel that gives you the most up to date analytics and statistics on your store, while Shopify won’t necessarily let you look at the store lifetime sales it still has an amazing number of stats that Magento doesn’t. For instance, Shopify will let you look at what users have inputted into the search bar of the site which has returned no product. While you may think this is pointless as a majority of it could be users misspelling products or trends, it is useful to monitor as it can influence your buying patterns. Another handy statistic given to you by Shopify is your conversion funnel rate, so you are able to see the percentage of potential consumers who are adding to cart compared to those who actually reach the checkout and complete a purchase. Conversion funnel rates are essential into understanding why your site may not be converting as well as you had hoped, if you have a massive drop off in the conversion funnel, then it means your checkout process needs scrutinising.

There has been a reported loss of revenue and profits for Zara within the US and the UK in the last year, despite an increase in sales. Thankfully, this hasn’t stopped Zara from investing heavily into their UK branches, and more importantly, technology.

An article from Inditex hinted that a temporary pop-up store in Westfield Stratford would be opened last Friday but this pop-up store would be one like no other. One of Zara’s flagship stores is undergoing a massive transformation and is set for reopening in May with some pretty innovative and revealing changes within the retail and digital world.

With an integration of the offline and online in the retail industry, we could not only see a change in the way offline stores operate but also see alterations made in online user journeys and social media marketing.

The Pop-Up Store

The temporary pop up store has been designed for consumers to order and collect online purchases that have been made, as well as a click and collect service. This is a stern move towards the integration of the online and offline and Zara have spared no expense.

The argument against online shopping is that consumers still like to be able to see and experience the product. Consumers also love to try garments on, because in reality it never looks the same as it does on the model. The advancements in technology within the pop-up store (which will no doubt also be incorporated into the new flagship store in Westfield Stratford), have enabled this functionality with the creation of a mirror embedded product recommendation system. This system not only knows your size without you having to input it but also recommends other garments and accessories which compliment the garment you are interested in. This is an exciting step forward for retailers, buyers, and ecommerce. The detailed personalisation of this technology can only increase that all important conversion rate.

The Refurbished Flagship Store

This week marked the start of the much-anticipated refurbishment of Zara’s flagship store in Westfield Stratford. It has been planned that the new store will have four main sections; womenswear, menswear, kidswear and a section dedicated to online orders. This change comes from Zara’s ever-growing commitment to creating the perfect omni-channel experience.

The collection point will be formed of two small warehouses that allow for online orders to be collected in store by consumers whenever it suits them. Now, I know your thinking ‘Loads of retailers are providing click and collect services, what is so special about this one?’ Well, first of all no more waiting around in ques to collect your package. The system has been created so that it can scan a QR code as well as PIN codes that have been generated on ordering, so in just a few seconds your order is processed and placed in a mailbox within the store to be collected.

What else? You can now pay via the Zara and Inditex App, InWallet or even through a self checkout making paying in-store even easier, for those in a hurry. Not only is Zara committed to creating a more wholesome and consistent experience for shoppers, they are also dedicated to their own eco-efficient store programme which will lead to systems placed in the new store that aims at reducing energy and emissions as well as encouraging paperless receipts.

The Impact On Ecommerce

Evidently the impact is hard to predict as this pop-up store and the plans for the new Zara are the first of its kind, however, we can try. This innovation suggests a massive move towards Zara building an omni-channel experience, which people have been crying out for. The concept is based around the idea that no matter how a consumer has decided to buy, whether it is in store, on a mobile or through an app, their experience should always provide the same value. This hasn’t necessarily been the case, for instance with some retail stores they have products that are for online consumers only and similarly in the store, sales online and sales in-store do not always match.

If these advances made by Zara are successful then it could lead to a whole new way of shopping. Moving towards a merge of experiences between the offline and the online and will lead the way in other companies moving heavily towards the need for digital services.

Conclusion

It is early days yet and Zara will have a long way to go before they can start to fine tune the experience to reflect what the consumer actually wants. Nevertheless, they have shown initiative as well as the ability to adapt, by being the first big retail chain to make this kind of move. This move has put them ahead of their competitors in terms of innovation and trend setting. Zara have also demonstrated that there is a massive need for retailers that operate both in store and online to constantly refine and revolutionise the user experience in order to create more conversions.

Apex’s big prediction? Zara will heavily rely on a big push of social media marketing and PR from now on, with interactive videos planning to make a big wave this year they could really benefit from demonstrating their new technology to their big following.

Let’s say, you want to get customers to include you in their address book. Chances are they’ll think about saving your contact details, but they won’t actually do it. In this scenario, the vCard Code or the “virtual business card” code provides a perfect solution. All customers need to do is scan the QR code using their smartphone and your contact details are immediately saved.

Let’s have another example.

Say, you have an app that you want customers to download. Similar to the previous example, all customers need to do is scan the QR code in the product. Once they scan the code, they’re immediately forwarded to its location in the app store.

Yes, it’s that fast and easy!

But they’re not limited to contact details and app URLs. A simple QR code can store PDF files, images, MP3 music, web addresses and a lot more. This makes them an ideal tool for marketers with a lot of creative ideas and promotions.

In fact, QR code creation boosted a whopping 1,253% in 2011 and two million QR codes were created in less than three months! A similar report by Scanbury found that that QR codes led to 4.3 scans per person in 2015. This data isn’t surprising given that there are an estimated 10 billion mobile devices used worldwide.

How Can You Use QR Codes in Your Next Marketing Campaign?

Early adopters of QR codes have found a lot of creative ways to integrate them into their marketing campaigns. Here are some beautiful QR code ads by Instagram and Angry birds:

Once users scan the images, they are immediately redirected to the app store.

Meanwhile, retail stores like Tesco helped commuters maximise their time in the bus by embedding QR codes in subway stations and bus stops. Customers who scan the code can shop their groceries online while waiting for the train. When they get home, the items they shopped can be delivered right on their doorstep, which is a great time saver.

Spotify made a similar move when it introduced Spotify codes, which allowed users to immediately share their favorite artists, albums, and playlists via QR codes. They can scan a friend’s QR code to follow their playlists, or share a screenshot of a QR code to share their Spotify profile.

Ready to Include QR Codes In Your Next Marketing Campaign?

Creating QR codes is fast and easy. Just head over to QR Stuff to create your first QR code (for free)! If you prefer to have beautiful and eye-catching codes, then you can head over to Custom QR Codes to design the codes you want.

On Thursday 11th January, Facebooks creator, Mark Zuckerburg, announced that big changes were coming to the Facebook news feed as we know it.

Changes in the form of a new algorithm update, deep breath. The aim of the update is to take Facebook right back to the platforms original intent, a place to share updates with friends and family. The news has set brands into a frenzied state of panic, questioning what this means for their reliable referral traffic.

When announcements like these hit the news, it’s difficult, especially as a marketer, to not instantly plan how we shall fight through this – ensuring we come out on top. May I add, just because something got harder, that does not mean it’s no longer worth your time.

From the surface, the change appears to be a push towards a happier 2018, however, call me pessimistic but this feels like a sure way to get Facebook back on our minds, following recent reports of drops in user activity.

We can all attempt to make sense of Mark Zuckerberg’s surgically constructed announcement but I can’t help but feel his hands are in fact tied. No institution of this size, home to over 2 billion active users, can just remove themselves from being an integral part of the global news ecosystem. Sadly, much like many of the changes we are facing moving in 2018, this update is born out of ‘the Trump effect.’ Facebook has been exposed to a bombardment of bad press since Trump was elected, criticised heavily for the hosting of ‘fake news’.

The platform was never created to be a space for publishers and brands, this is something Facebook grew into from increasing consumer demand. The move was encouraged by Facebook and journalistic style news and brands have significantly benefitted from this movement.

Do I believe this is the end of Facebook’s relationship with promotional content, no.

Google and Facebook, The Ultimate ‘Frenemies’

Facebook is a business, although this decision may seem brash, the decision will be bottom line focused. Personally, I feel Facebook has let slip what should have been better controlled some time ago. Spammy content has been given the same importance as the really good stuff. This has created a very noisy environment, stripping this back to a space where users are supposedly ‘happier’ and brands and news are pushed to promote better content, can only be good for the industry, no?

Pounds will continue to feed into social media, that really goes without saying. Please be aware that Facebook has not yet directly referenced a drop in Paid Advertisement on the platform.

So play by the rules, know your audience and create compelling content with a budget and nothing much has really changed.

Removing all movement on Facebook for publishers and brands forever would be to push them closer to their biggest frenemy, Google. An organisation which is working tirelessly to better its relationship with news.

The advertising spend will be spent somewhere, I highly doubt Facebook will allow their loss to be Googles gain.

Being a working mum is something I always thought ‘Well there are women in Africa working all day in fields with their kids strapped to them, so this will be a doddle’. Oh god, oh how I was not ready for the non stop lifestyle of having two kids whilst running an ecommerce agency. Don’t get me wrong, I love it, but what I wouldn’t give for a lie in or a day of no-one asking for anything.

So my colleagues gave me the challenge of writing down a day, as it happened black friday was on the horizon…

In the run up to Black Friday, clients all of sudden come out of the woodwork asking for more deals, more graphics, more products imports than we had originally scheduled. This is all understandable as it’s the busiest retail time of the year and we want nothing more than to see our clients sales go through the roof. One big bonus is that as we use the Shopify platform, these changes are simple to make and our clients can look at the snazzy dashboard to keep an eye on sales.

6am – Alarm goes off…. snooze

6:10am – Alarm goes off… time to get up and jump in the shower before the rest of the house awakes.

6:50am – The kids wake up, time for milk. Then wrestler kids into clothes, brush their teeth and hair whilst they wrestle each other

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